What’s past is prologue. The bard had it right did he not, Mr Editor? It’s also so much better than saying, again, and again, and again, that what we so often see is what we get, i.e. the same old, same old. Like you, I try to keep up with debates on the Hill but when I tune in I soon find myself tuning right back out. They might as well all be on rewind: stuck on stuck. Like so many of their political partisans hiding behind pseudonyms pushing particular petty points and counterpoints on social media and elsewhere.

Too harsh? Maybe. After all I have been there and been a part of that. Still, it has never stopped me from advocating change because change is what we need; and arguably this was what we were also promised at the last election.

I don’t know about you, people, but it has to be past time when the indefensible is defended on the basis that ‘we are only doing what you did and you have got absolutely no right to criticise me for what you did or did worse’. This goes both ways too, whether you listen closely or not, whether Government or Opposition.

Even schoolchildren (‘I know you are, but what am I?’) understand that two wrongs do not make a right. Politics should be no exception. All that is required is leadership and leadership in a new direction.

The OBA has been in power 18 months, almost a third of a full term. They have done a pretty good job of trying to distance themselves from the problems they inherited, and they still do it at every opportunity they get. Or so it seems. Fair enough. The point is people deserve to know what they discovered on arrival.

But on this point, for the life of me, I cannot figure out why Government members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) are not pushing (or pushing harder) for a more active committee with far more public meetings than we have had to date — which I believe is none since the last election. Sure PAC is chaired by the Opposition spokesman for Finance, and he and his colleagues may have no appetite for investigating what took place on their watch, but pressure can and should be brought to bear. Fair is fair and right is right.

PAC is supposed to be key in keeping a close eye on the public purse and Government expenditure — and PAC would be far more effective if its work was contemporaneous, i.e. as contracts are entered and as spending occurs, rather than historical. It’s much easier to control the horse when he is in the stable than after he’s bolted. You might also like to think that the Opposition PLP will come to appreciate the value of this committee the sooner they get on to OBA budgets and expenditure.

At the very least there are always lessons to be learned and possibly prices still to be paid even, literally and figuratively, Mr Editor. But only if we employ effectively, and critically, one of the more important parliamentary tools available to members for scrutiny of public expenditure.

Meanwhile, 18 months into their term and the OBA as Government has come to assume ownership of many of the challenges which they inherited, whether they like it or not. That’s the way it goes when you run for and obtain the reins of government. They have had plenty of time to examine what was under the hood, and to report, and/or to take action. Sadly, and perhaps inevitably, as with any government, or so it seems, they have also manufactured some of their own problems which has bogged down them and us. You might think JetGate the most obvious and recent example.

By all means, share your difficulties with us, in as much detail as is necessary, to give us the full and complete picture, then give us your solutions or, if this be the case, the reasons why you are unable to pursue a particular programme or policy. Sounds simple, straightforward, honest and transparent, does it not? That’s because it is. But please spare us, if you would, so much of the tiresome political rhetoric we seem to get as well. It amounts to so much noise that we can all do without. Or as William put it, again from The Tempest, it strikes the ear most terribly.

Post your views on The Royal Gazette website or write jbarritt@ibl.bm.